It does pay to be a long-term optimist as I am. The easiest way to show the importance of staying invested is with the Rule of 72, which illustrates how compounding builds long-term wealth. To see how many years it will take to double your money at any compound growth rate, just divide 72 by that rate. Assuming a 7% compounding rate, your money will roughly double in 10 years. Over 50 years, you will have five doubles -with the last 20 years being the most important doubling points because you are working with a greater principal amount.

For example, $1 million compounding at 7% will grow to almost $32 million ($29.46 to be exact) in 50 years. In the first decade your money will double from $1 million to $2 million, in the second decade from $2 million to $4 million and in the third decade from $4 million to $8 million. Then it starts to get really interesting because the dollar amounts you are doubling are so much greater. In the fourth decade your money will double from $8 million to $16 million and in the fifth decade from $16 million to $32 million. If you can compound your money at 14%, then your $1 million will grow to more than $700 million in 50 years. In such case, your money will double about twice as fast- about every five years, not every 10 years- and so you will have almost 10 doubles over a 50-year period. This is why it is so important to stay invested.

Here are some of the best investment minds in the country offering their wisdom and insights on the issues confronting all investors:

- "Diversification is an established tenet for conservative investment." Benjamin Graham

- "To refer to a personal taste of mine, I am going to buy hamburgers the rest of my life. When hamburgers go down in price, we sing the "Hallelujah Chorus" in the Buffett household. When hamburgers go up, we weep. For most people, it is the same way with everything in life they will be buying -except stocks. When stocks go down and you can get more for your money, people don't like them anymore." Warren Buffett

- "Far more money has been lost by investors preparing for corrections or trying to anticipate corrections than has been lost in corrections themselves." Peter Lynch, former Fidelity Magellan Fund manager.

- "Your success in investing will depend in part on your character and guts, and in part on your ability to realize at the height of ebullience and the depth of despair alike that this too shall pass." John Bogle, Chairman of Vanguard.

Many people are disappointed with investing over the last year. Even if equities deliver long-term returns in the mid single digits as they have in the last decade building a solid long term investment portfolio is still possible. From the quotes above, you can see that you must invest for the long term- that is a minimum of 10 years or more. Focus on the Rule of 72 and the stick with your plan and successful results are sure to follow no matter what the economy does.